The state Department of Health Tuesday revoked the operating registration of an Allentown abortion clinic less than a week after it had been renewed, saying that former owner Dr. Steven Brigham showed a "serial" disregard for health regulations. The department pulled the registration after it learned that Allentown Medical Services lost its lease at 2200 Hamilton St. Since registrations for abortion facilities are specific to a location, losing the lease broke the terms of the registration, the state said.

You've heard of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection caused by a bite by an infected tick. There's a good chance you know someone who has had it. From 2002-12, more than 46,000 Pennsylvanians were diagnosed with the disease. While we don't have rates of infection like they do in Vermont and New Hampshire, in terms of sheer numbers, Pennsylvania had the highest number of Lyme disease cases nationwide from 2009-12. That's why on Thursday state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, got the Legislature to buy into his bill creating a task force within the Pennsylvania Department of Health to educate the public about Lyme disease and to conduct a tick surveillance program statewide.

City prosecutors say a state Department of Health worker has been charged with stealing and selling prescriptions and helping others obtain fraudulent prescriptions. Prosecutors say Maria Josey, 44, was arrested Monday night and charged with conspiracy, possession with intent to deliver and identity theft. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office says undercover detectives from the new Special Operations division were able to buy illegal prescriptions from Josey outside a health department center where she worked as a clerk/typist.

As the American population ages and longevity increases, surgery to replace creaky knees and hips has become routine - more than a million people every year have a knee or hip replaced. But what happened at St. Luke's University Health Network last year shows that in even more common surgical procedures, risks - sometimes unusual, deadly ones - remain. A joint replacement patient at St. Luke's went into heart failure and died, a new state Department of Health report says, and the report implicates a rare but dangerous condition: Bone Cement Implantation Syndrome.

The Allentown Health Department will have to figure out how to make do with $90,000 less in state public health funding this year. The cuts, included in larger funding reduction spread across all local health departments in the state, were relayed by the Corbett Administration on Tuesday night to Allentown Health Director Vicki Kistler, who reported the reduction to city council Wednesday. The reduced funding, plus changes in federal health policy included in the Affordable Care Act could mean big changes in the way the city handles public health services and vaccinations this year, she said, and will likely put more stress on primary care doctors.

Northampton County Council was expected Thursday to put an end to efforts to form a regional public health department, but council members postponed the decision for up to two months. In the meantime, the volunteer Health Board plans to present Northampton County Council and Lehigh County commissioners a revised proposal for the bi-county department. The meeting should happen in October, Councilman Michael Dowd said. "It has not been an easy task and you charged us to do this three years ago," Health Board Chairwoman Ilene Prokup told council.

A group of Lehigh County Commissioners on Wednesday presented a bill to withdraw from the proposed joint county department of health with Northampton County, citing cost concerns. The bill, however, was tabled following its first reading. The bi-county department would provide public health services, such as vaccinations, health inspections and monitor epidemiology on a larger scale. Currently, Allentown and Bethlehem offer fully functioning health departments. Commissioners Dean Browning, Thomas Creighton and Glenn Eckhart introduced the bill for a first reading Wednesday.

An ailing bi-county health department established to expand public health to the Valley's suburban and rural communities was put to rest Wednesday by Republican Lehigh County commissioners who said future costs to maintain the department would be untenable. Lehigh and Northampton counties signed on to create a bi-county health department in 2007, but its launch was impeded by wavering support, impasses over membership on a health board and funding pitfalls. Northampton County had flirted with backing out, but it was Lehigh County that "put the casket in the grave," one commissioner said.

Lehigh County last week backed out of a bi-county health department, and with great reluctance, Northampton County on Thursday followed suit. County Council's decision came on a night when members approved a four-year contract with Gracedale nursing home's largest union, estimated to save $2.2 million a year, and authorized the sale of bonds tied to a now-infamous swaption. On the health department, council members criticized Lehigh County commissioners for putting finances over public welfare and expressed some interest in moving forward on their own. "We would be remiss if we didn't try somehow," Councilman Bob Werner said.

Montgomery County commissioners will appoint a task force shortly to study how to improve health services, including looking at the possibility of creating a county health department. Meanwhile, a petition is reportedly circulating in the county calling for a binding referendum on forming a health department. Paul B. Bartle, commissioner chairman, said yesterday he hopes that a referendum is not held until the public has a chance to see the task force's recommendations. Commissioners said an informed public means a calm and rational debate of the question.

John Tabor grew up in New York City's Lower East Side, where a robust network of community gardens has long provided healthy food options to the traditionally working-class but recently gentrified neighborhood. So it was natural for the 20-year-old student at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., to sign on as an intern with the Rodale Institute in Maxatawny Township, which is growing fresh fruits and vegetables for distribution in urban centers. Like Tabor, most of the half-dozen recently arrived interns are transplants from urban settings.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is investigating a situation involving a Red Robin restaurant employee in Bartonsville who was diagnosed with hepatitis A, according to a spokeswoman. "The Disease Prevention and Control Law prohibits us from providing further details as the investigation is ongoing at this time," said Aimee Tysarczyk, press secretary/director of communications for the state Health Department. "As the investigation continues and if any public health risks evolve, the department will provide additional information to ensure the safety and well-being of the public, as needed," Tysarczyk said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has identified a confirmed case of measles that others may have been exposed to at two area medical facilities. The possible exposures could have occurred at Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg and Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, the Health Department said in a news release Friday. Both facilities are working with the department to identify and protect anyone who is not vaccinated against measles and might have come into contact with an infected patient.

You want that steak wit' or wit'out? If you're ordering at Geno's, you can now get them wit' - with the proper business and health licenses, that is. Seems that the famous cheesesteak palace at 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue had been operating with an expired food-prep license since May. Their private dumpster and sidewalk cafe licenses had been expired since 2011. After hearing from the Daily News, Geno's got the food-prep and sidewalk-cafe licenses renewed Thursday. Kylie Flett, a spokeswoman for Geno Vento, says the company learned of the expired licenses during their recent heath inspection.

The influenza strain responsible for the 2009 global pandemic is circulating in Pennsylvania, killing people normally considered less susceptible to severe complications — young and middle-aged adults. As of Jan. 4, the state Department of Health reported six flu-related deaths across Pennsylvania, including three people between the ages of 25 and 49. Meanwhile, people ages 25 to 64 account for 57 percent of all flu-related hospitalizations so far — up 31 percent from last year's mark.

A Chinese food restaurant was evacuated Sunday afternoon after one of its ovens caught fire, according to the Allentown Fire Department. Emergency crews responded about 3:30 p.m. to the Happy Garden Chinese Restaurant, 501 N. Seventh St., fire officials said. Smoke filled the first and second floors of the building and firefighters used fans to ventilate to building. No one was injured, but health department officials must inspect the restaurant before allowing it to reopen, fire officials said.

Montgomery County voters yesterday approved the creation of a county health department. The tally of the binding referendum was 32,349 to 20,734 with 235 of 361 precincts reporting. "We feel great. It's wonderful that the people understood the need for a health department," said Neil Goldstein of the Health Planning Group, an organization of county residents, doctors and officials that put the referendum on the ballot. County officials were not available for comment. Paul B. Bartle, chairman of the county commissioners, had opposed the creation of a county health agency as unnecessary and too costly.

State health officials have asked doctors to take a closer look at anyone who developed pneumonia-like symptoms after visiting a South Whitehall Township outpatient facility after a half-dozen cases of Legionnaires' disease were linked to the site. Integrated Health Campus, at 240 and 250 Cetronia Road, houses a number of offices. In an advisory issued to health care facilities, the Pennsylvania Department of Health asked clinicians to be vigilant for signs of the disease, also called legionellosis, among patients who visited the campus in the 14 days before their illness.

By Daniel Kelley, Of Reuters NORRISTOWN — A suburban Philadelphia county that is giving marriage licenses to gay couples despite a Pennsylvania ban on same-sex nuptials went to court on Friday to fight a state lawsuit aimed at halting the practice. Montgomery County solicitor Ray McGarry filed documents in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court seeking to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the state Health Department, arguing the department lacks the jurisdiction to sue. Speaking to reporters at a news conference, he also argued that marriage is a "constitutional, fundamental civil right" for all Americans.